United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described recent artillery and rocket fire around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in central Ukraine as “suicidal,” further adding to fears of an accident at the plant, which is the largest of its kind in Europe.
The UN Chief also called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be given access to the nuclear power station after it was hit by shelling at the weekend while expressing hope that these attacks would end.
The Zaporizhzhia plant occupies an extensive site on the river Dnipro. It has continued operating at reduced capacity since Russian forces captured it early in March, with Ukrainian technicians remaining at work.
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Ukraine’s state energy company Energoatom said that one worker was injured by Russian shelling around the plant on Saturday.
Energoatom claimed that three radiation monitoring sensors were also damaged.
Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame over the incident. Moscow says Western countries with influence over Ukraine should push Kyiv to stop shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
According to Energoatom’s chairman, Petro Kotin, Zaporizhzhia NPP (nuclear power plant) as of now is only connected to the Ukrainian energy system with just one communication line. If all the lines are damaged, the plant will transfer to the so-called ‘black-out’ mode, meaning become completely de-energized. And this situation will be very dangerous for keeping fuel in nuclear reactors in a safe condition,”
